Why Using the Term Overweight Might Be Counterproductive

A group of doctors are now urging public health officials around the world to replace the word “overweight” with “overfat.” These doctors claim that the focus on using body mass index (BMI), which measures the ratio between a person’s weight and height, is misleading at best. If these doctors have their way, we could all be using tape measurers far more often than standing on bathroom scales in the future.

Where the Overfat Term Comes From

The main scientists behind advocating the “overfat” term come from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. In their recent case, which was published in Frontiers in Public Health, the authors claim that “over/underfat” are better terms than “over/underweight” because they “describe the phenomena associated with inappropriate body compositions more accurately.” Overfat, in their definition of the term, simply refers to people who have an excess body fat that could impair good health.

And make no mistake about it, these authors don’t take this word change lightly. Indeed, one author, the retired primary-care physician Phil Maffetone, believes using the term “overfat” can help people avoid serious chronic illnesses and take better care of their health.

The reason “overfat” works, at least as far as these doctors are concerned, is because it focuses on looking directly at a person’s adipose tissue and lean muscle. BMIs, unfortunately, are often inaccurate and lead the general population astray. The way the medical establishment currently defines “obesity” is having a BMI reading greater than 29. But this reading becomes problematic when, for instance, a body builder is often considered obese due to his/her increased muscle mass.

Imprecision of BMI Could Be Dangerous

Of course, people in the medical field have been well aware of the imperfections of the BMI system. Despite this knowledge, the BMI is still the standard for measuring “good health” in both the clinic and at home.

It doesn’t help that we’re surrounded by a fitness-crazed media that promotes low BMI results as the golden standard. People fail to recognize that just losing weight is not the key to great health. When looking at a human body, it’s important to take into account not just how much weight is lost, but also the overall composition of muscle, water, and fat.

There are plenty of people in the USA today who have low BMIs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t “overfat,” Maffetone argues. As Maffeton put it, the BMI “is not diagnostic of the body fatness or health of an individual.” Some researchers believe as many as 76 percent of people in the world could be classified as overfat right now.

American researchers looking at this data were shocked to see the 76 percent figure. One nutrition expert at Columbia University, Marie-Pierre St-Onge, told reporters she believes the American medical establishment really needs to look into this “overfat” issue as the years wear on. However, she also said we need to take cautious first steps in dismantling the “overweight” label. After all, we don’t have an established means of measuring or accessing a person’s “overfatness” just yet.

Change May Come in Replacing Overweight, But It Will Take Time

If “overfat” is really going to be the new “overweight,” there needs to be a huge shift in how public health officials and media outlets inform citizens about healthy body composition. For now, Maffetone says people can adequately get a good sense of their body fat by measuring their abdomen each month with a tape measurer.

The most dangerous form of obesity is called “central obesity,” which refers to an excess of adipose tissue in the abdomen area. And, while we’re all waiting for “overfat” to become the new normal, Maffetone encourages us all to start bringing up the term in daily conversation. Hopefully this will help us all have more intelligent and honest discussions about what truly constitutes “good health.”